A quick update from Gibraltar... we arrived here last Saturday (October 13th) after an uneventful 130 nm from Almerimar to join the other Blue Water Rally boats here in Marina Bay (more on that later). This weekend (it's Sunday, October 21 today) we went to Smir on the Marrocan side of the Strait yesterday, coming back today. Two great sailing days with good wind. Nana took some videos on the way back which you can hopefully see here if you're interested:

We have moved quickly through the Balearic islands but have had a lot of luck in finding beautiful and uncrowded anchorages. Leaving Mahon, we sailed a short distance along the south coast of Menorca to Calas Covas, an undeveloped cove surrounded by cliffs pocked with natural and man-made caves. There, we practiced an anchoring technique new to us - dropping anchors (bow and stern) parallel to our friends in Arearea and rafting up alongside each other. This meant we had 4 anchors to set and later to raise but it worked ideally for us.

From Malta it was a two day trip west to Tunisia. After one day, we passed the island of Pantelleria, sadly without stopping. It is amazing that even with a year off to sail, we still can feel rushed sometimes; right now, the clock is ticking as we look west to reaching Gibraltar on schedule to cross the Atlantic. Pantelleria is green and lush, more like a South Pacific island than the dry, barren islands we have seen so far. I will add it to my list of "somedays"!

We arrived in Bizerte/Tunesia on Tuesday 11SEP after an uneventful 2-day passage from Malta. Ironically, we had to come to North-Africa to feel cool again (still at 25Â°C though...). We will likely stay here another day and then take off for Menorca (possibly with a stopover on Sardinia, depending on the wind) as soon as the weather is favourable. Yesterday an American boat with two small children (2-years and 6-months) tied up next to us so we can start a temporary little play group. Next update probably from Menorca - stay tuned...

Well, we had originally planned on 6 days in Malta and it will end up being a little more than two weeks! But we have really enjoyed our time here and gotten important work done. The big project was getting the mast taken down at Kalkara Boat Yard, an excellent family business run by four brothers, their sister, and a hoard of nephews and nieces (meanwhile their father was off enjoying his retirement on his own boat in Sicily for a few weeks).